LOGISTIC CASE STUDY : NÜRNBERG AUGSBURG MASCHINENWERKE (N.A.M.) -ANSWER PART 1

 if you are looking for questions 6 to 8 :ANSWER PART 2 LINK

1. Assume that you are Weiss. How many viable alternatives do you have to consider regarding the initial shipment of 25 buses?

There will be two viable alternatives that are left for us. Firstly, Bremerhaven was not in service in the desired timeframe which means that Bremerhaven is not an option for Weiss. At this time, Weiss left two choices which are Hamburg and Rotterdam. The ports at Hamburg are available on October 24, October 27, October 31, and November 2. Besides that, the ports at Rotterdam are available on October 23, October 28, and November 2. After eliminating the departing date on November and October 31, Hamburg is only available on October 24, October 27, Rotterdam is October 23 and October 28.  However, there is always possible happen something that may delay the transit time, so that when choosing the departing date, it must always leave some space for the transit time as a buffer which is mean that the earlier the better. The deadline for 25 buses is on November 15 and the least needed transit time was 18 days. It means that the departing date of October 27 and October 28 is more risk if there happens anything causing a delay in transit. To conclude, the alternative for Weiss has left Hamburg on October 24 which left 21 days, Rotterdam on October 23 which left 22 days until the deadline.

 

 

 

2. Which of the routing alternatives would you recommend to meet the initial 90-day deadline for the25-bus shipment? Train or waterway? To which port(s)? What would it cost?

Assuming the railway is used for transport, there are two possible routings which are Prague to Hamburg with 490 kilometers, and Prague to Rotterdam with 640 kilometers. N.A.M will need 3 days to get the buses from Prague to Hamburg, and it needs 4 or 5 days to get buses from Prague to Rotterdam. If using the waterways to reach the Hamburg port from Prague will delay the transit time by three days more. However, the waterways of Rotterdam to Santos are cheaper as the ocean shipping charges are 5 percent less and shorten transit time by one day to reach Santos. After comparing, the Hamburg route will be saved one day transit time compare with the Rotterdam route. So, it was suggesting using the railway from Prague to Hamburg in 3 days and using waterways from Hamburg to Santos is the faster route even the cost is higher than using the Rotterdam route.

 

 

 

3. What additional information would be helpful for answering Question 2?

Based on the information have in the case study, there is still a lot of helpful information that may support answering question 2. For example, real-time traffic information will be needed to analyze the delay possibility for the route to reach the destination in the most efficient road. Other than that, the information on the port performance is also needed to answer question 2. For example, if the port that choosing is now cargo congestion, then the cargo might be delayed for shipment or loading and affect the transit time. Moreover, if the information of port performance is provided, it will be easier to know how much possibility that the port from Prague to the Rotterdam need 4 or 5 days to get the buses.

 

4. How important, in fact, are the transport costs for the initial shipment of 25 buses?

Logistic is always an important element in a business that affects the price of the product. The transit cost per bus from the Hamburg route is about € 6000, then 25 buses will be €150,000, this was a huge amount. If the first 25 buses did not handle properly, it may possibly affect the subsequent orders and funds operations or organization. The first 25 buses will be a trial of the organization to analyze the organization's capacity to handle the bigger order. For example, can the organization produce enough products to fulfill the market in the time, can the company bring profits and avoid loss while processing huge orders.

 

5. What kinds of customer service support must be provided for this initial shipment of 25 buses? Who is responsible?

In the initial shipment, there will always be various of constituencies is involve inside. For example, railway transport, ocean carrier, dock worker, and so on. However, there are some particular authorities who take responsibility to serve the customer as customer services are important for logistics. The most important element that customers need is transparency. For example, a real-time shipment tracking system can be provided to the customer to enable the customer to know how the situation of the goods is now, where the goods reach, how many days to reach. Even more, the tracking system can decrease the workload of the operator as a customer can found what does the problem occurs and cause a delay in their goods and don’t need to call the company.  This method can maintain communication with the customer and faster than traditional email or fax. Other than that, the company can provide an additional insurance procedure for the goods that the customer order to form a customer sense of trust in the company. In the end, when the goods have reached the hand of the customer, it can also ask the customer to provide their feedback to the company to collect the data for the company to analyses and improve the services to meet the customer requirement.